Land Day Massacre 2.0

On March 30, 1976 Israelis killed six Palestinians in northern Israel during protests of an Israeli government land grab. Palestinians have been
marking the day each year ever since.

This year youth in Gaza combined Land Day March with #GreatReturnMarch. It was advertised in Gaza as a mass, peaceful effort and families were encouraged to bring women and children.
Some 30,000 unarmed people marched and camped near the edges of the Gaza Strip. It was well reported that a massive peaceful attempt would be made this year to
draw attention to the awful state of affairs in Gaza. Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Lieberman "prepared" for a peaceful march
by using bulldozers to push up massive mounds near fences and by bringing in 100 snipers.
That certainly was ominous. In December during protests of the Trump announcement on the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem, an Israeli sniper shot to death double amputee Ibrahim Abu Thuraya.

Netanyahu and his gang responded with enormous violence. The first fatality was
Wahid Sammour a farmer apparently on his own land. He was blown apart by a tank shell. Of the demonstrators 15 were shot dead. The number of wounded was extraordinary. IMEMC, the International Middle East
Media Center reports that the Palestinians Ministry of Health said 1416 were injured that day.
The Israeli paper Haaretz broke down the number this way: "758 were wounded from live fire, 148 from rubber-tipped bullets, 422 from inhaling tear gas and 88 from
other causes." This all happened in one day. The same Haaretz article included a video of a man running away who was killed with a shot in the back.
Israel has "rules of engagement" on when soldiers may use live fire, but
in reality these are largely for show, to pretend that Israel is a state governed by laws.

Lies

The Israeli government was prepared with a number of excuses for its megaviolence and language for foreign corporate press to use to muddle responsibility.

1) Hamas organized this "violent" protest and is using children as "pawns". Land Day has been marked for decades, starting ten years before Hamas even started.

2) The IDF said "its forces faced “violent riots and terror attacks”. Terror attacks. The Gaza
Strip was surrounded by Israeli soldiers. Does the word "terror" have any meaning at all in Israeli propaganda-speak other than any kind of Palestinian resistance?

3) Supposedly the demonstrations were "riots", "clashes", "violent protests" and a "cover for staging attacks". 30,000 people and the proof the violence was some burning tires.

4) The Israeli Army claimed only "several dozen" were injured by live fire. The number of injuries does seem
extraordinary, but realize Israel has used enormous violence against Palestinians. In the opening days of the uprising (often called the Al Aqsa Intifada) starting in September 2000 the Israeli army
fired 1.3 million bullets.